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National Parks/Transcript
Transcript Text reads: The Mysteries of Life with Tim and Moby Tim is climbing a tall, sheer rock face. He is wearing safety gear. A woodpecker appears and pecks his hand, and he loses his grip on the rock's surface. He yells and falls a few feet to the ground. Moby stands next to him, smiling. MOBY: Beep. TIM: I am being safe. Tim shows Moby his rock climbing hooks. He then reads from a typed letter. TIM: Dear Tim and Moby, What are national parks? Are they just bigger than regular parks? Curious, Adrian. Hey, Adrian. It's true that a lot of national parks are huge. The biggest, Wrangell-Saint Elias, can fit the entire state of Massachusetts inside it, with room to spare for Delaware and Rhode Island. An image shows a map of Alaska, with its southeast corner marked to show the location of the park Tim describes. A map of Massachusetts is superimposed over the park, joined by a map of Delaware and Rhode Island. All three states fit within the park with room to spare. TIM: But size alone isn't what defines them. A national park is a specific type of protected area. That's a piece of land with special laws against development. An image shows a large wooden sign with text that reads: National Park. TIM: Like, you couldn't just build a new home or a business there. It's public land, meaning it belongs to all of us. An image appears of a "no" symbol over a house. It is joined by a "no" symbol over a dollar sign. A third symbol shows a crowd surrounding a wooded area. TIM: So our representatives in government decide how best to use it on everyone's behalf. Tim and Moby hike through a national park's forest. MOBY: Beep. TIM: National parks are chosen based on the things you can see and do there. Some have crazy rock formations, like the hoodoos of Bryce Canyon. Arches Park has thousands of stone gateways formed by millions of years of erosion. And Carlsbad Caverns is filled with bizarre mineral formations. Trekking through its caves is like taking a voyage to an alien planet. The background behind Tim and Moby changes to match Tim's descriptions of landscapes and geological features. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Other parks support unusual ecosystems with all sorts of rare wildlife. Like this blind shrimp that lives only in the underground pools of Mammoth Cave. An animation shows the blind shrimp swimming underground. TIM: Or the West Indian manatees that take refuge in Biscayne Bay. An animation shows two large manatees swimming under the ocean's surface. TIM: And this cute little dude, the Pacific fisher. An animation shows the rodent-like animal. MOBY: Beep. TIM: All of those animals were on the brink of extinction, when a species is completely killed off. Thanks to places like Olympic National Park, they're making a comeback. A baby Pacific fisher joins the other one. TIM: Endangered species, those at risk of disappearing, are released onto parkland. An animation shows a fox being released into the forest by a park ranger. TIM: The hope is that they'll breed and repopulate the area. Dozens of species have rebounded under the protection of our parks. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Well, protection from us, er, humans. Centuries ago, most of America was just like this, pristine wilderness. All you could see for miles and miles was unspoiled terrain. Tim and Moby are surrounded by an enormous forest, with mountain ranges in the background. TIM: The new country seemed to have an endless supply of resources and space. So for much of our early history, Americans were encouraged to strike out into the wilderness and settle it. An animation shows a group of covered wagons moving through the wilderness, past trees and mountains. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Yeah, millions of American Indians had already settled it to their own liking. Three Native Americans stand atop a hill, watching the wagon train go by. TIM: But in the space of a century, westward expansion changed the face of their land. Towns popped up and blossomed into cities. Transportation networks were built to link them all together. An illustration shows a map of the United States, with wagon trains moving from east to west across the continent. Towns and cities appear wherever the settlers pass, and networks of roads and railroad tracks grow, connecting the newly developed areas. TIM: And wave after wave of settlers pushed the frontier farther West. As the country grew, so did the need for resources like food and energy. More and more land was devoted to logging, mining, manufacturing, and farming. The illustrated map changes to depict the growth Tim describes. MOBY: Beep. TIM: By the 1800s, the country stretched from sea to sea. An animation shows a settler pounding a sign into the sand of the Pacific Ocean's shore. Text on the sign reads: Frontier Closed. TIM: Suddenly, America's resources didn't seem quite so limitless anymore. Forests could be wiped out, streams polluted, animals hunted to extinction. An animation shows a landscape of tree stumps where forests had once been. Factory smokestacks belch out pollution, and the sky is dark from smog. TIM: What's more, natural wonders could be ruined. Americans had already seen that happen to Niagara Falls earlier in the century. A map shows the location of Niagara Falls, on the border where northern New York state meets Canada. TIM: The land around the falls had been sold in pieces to private developers. An animated map of the Niagara Falls area indicates the land that was sold. All of it is on the United States side of the falls. TIM: So while the Canadian side remained pristine, the U.S. side was marred by souvenir shops, litter, and logging. An animation of both sides of the falls illustrates the differences Tim describes. TIM: Nobody wanted the same fate to befall the wonders of the West. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Most western land was already owned by the federal government. So in 1872, Congress created our first national park in the Rockies. Yellowstone covers thousands of square miles spread across three states. An animated map of the United States shows the location of Yellowstone National Park, in the northwest corner of Wyoming. Small parts of the park reach into southern Montana and eastern Idaho. TIM: Millions of people visit the park every year to camp, hike, and sightsee. Images show buffalo, whitewater rafters, and the varied landscape. TIM: Many come to see Old Faithful, the world's most famous geyser. An animation shows Old Faithful, spewing steam and water. TIM: Today, it seems only natural that we would protect this place. But in the 19th, it was still a radical concept. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Declaring a big piece of land off-limits was disruptive. Three animations appear. The first shows a forest, with a sign reading: No logging. The second shows a rocky landscape, with a sign reading: No mining. The third shows a herd of grazing buffalo, with a sign reading: No hunting. TIM: It meant kicking out people who had already staked claims and canceling big projects planned by state governments. Three men appear in the animations. One holds an axe, one holds a pickaxe, and one holds a gun. They stand and read the signs. TIM: These local interests actively worked against Yellowstone's protections. Lumber and mining companies ignored restrictions. Animations show the "No logging" and "No mining" signs being destroyed. TIM: Poachers hunted illegally without fear of punishment. An animation shows bullet holes appearing in the "No hunting" sign as gunshots are heard in the background. TIM: And legislators tried to strip Yellowstone of its protected status. An animation shows a lawmaker changing a sign that reads "Welcome to Yellowstone National Park" to one that reads "Welcome to Yellowstone Shopping Mall." TIM: The parks created afterward met similar resistance, and park supporters were split on how to protect them. Tim and Moby sit around a campfire, with a tent in the backgournd. MOBY: Beep. TIM: On one side, preservationists believed that protected lands should remain as wild and undeveloped as possible. John Muir was the face of this movement. An animation shows John Muir standing in a lush, wooded area. He is a large man with a walking stick. A mountain range sprawls behind him. TIM: He had spent years exploring the Yosemite region in California. A map of California shows the region Tim references. TIM: His best-selling books described the spiritual value of simply being in nature. An image shows a book. Text on its cover reads: Studies in the Sierra, by John Muir. TIM: They were a big part of why Yosemite was declared a national park. On the other side, conservationists thought protected areas should be lightly developed, to encourage tourism. An animation shows three frontier-era tourists looking at Old Faithful. There is a wooden fence separating them from the geyser. TIM: Logging, mining, and such would be allowed, but only with strict regulations. Theodore Roosevelt was an early champion of these ideas. An animation shows Theodore Roosevelt dressed as a Rough Rider. MOBY: Beep. TIM: As president, Roosevelt set an agenda for land use that lasts to this day. An animation shows President Roosevelt in the Oval Office, signing legislation. TIM: He created five national parks, as well as hundreds of national forests and game preserves. Images show a mountain lake, Devil's Tower in Wyoming, Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona, and the remains of a Native American settlement at the Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado. TIM: Smaller sites were also set aside for their natural beauty, or their significance to history and science. In all, Roosevelt put an area larger than Texas under federal protection. The resources in these places could be developed, but the land would remain public. That way, the government could impose strict rules for its use. An animation shows a logger driving a horse-driven cart loaded with wood. TIM: A decade later, Congress created the National Park Service. Its army of rangers and park police kept protected areas clean and enforced the rules. The horse-drawn cart stops at a small station and is inspected by a ranger with a pen and clipboard. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Today, there are 59 national parks and thousands of protected areas. An animated map of the United States shows the locations of the nation's national parks and protected areas. TIM: More than a quarter of all U.S. land falls under some kind of federal protection. But the argument over how to use it is far from settled. Dozens of our protected areas sit on top of fossil fuel reserves. The map shows the reserves Tim describes. TIM: The pressure is on to let energy companies extract those resources. A man in a suit gestures at the map with a pointer. He speaks angrily as he points. TIM: That could mean a sell-off of federal lands to private businesses. Or relaxing laws put in place to prevent pollution. A group of men in suits are seated at a boardroom table, watching the first man speak and point. All of the men look stern. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Well, it's up to each generation to strike a responsible balance. Moby is picking up litter from the forest floor and putting it in a bag. TIM: We're lucky these places were managed so well for us to enjoy. We ought to do all we can to pass them on to future generations. MOBY: Beep. Moby points at a large, wooden, anti-littering sign. Its text reads: Please… leave it as you found it. TIM: I couldn't have said it better myself. 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